


Falling down (the stairs)

by HogwartsToAlexandria



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Anal Fingering, Bathing/Washing, Biting, Budding Love, Cloak of Levitation (Marvel), Confessions, Dirty Talk, Fluff, Hair-pulling, Hand Jobs, Hurt Stephen Strange, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, M/M, Protective Tony Stark, The Cloak Ships It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 07:26:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18278573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HogwartsToAlexandria/pseuds/HogwartsToAlexandria
Summary: "Don't talk," Tony shushed, sitting a mere few inches from Stephen on the side of the bed, "Don't know what happened to you but you're going to let me patch you up," Tony raised an eyebrow the second Stephen opened his mouth to protest and continued, voice stone-cold, "You are going to let me do it."Stephen's eyes narrowed at him but in the end he didn't try to stop Tony.Or when being Sorcerer Supreme is a dangerous job, but that's okay, Tony is used to dealing with that. And the Cloak ships it.





	Falling down (the stairs)

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaand Ironstrange, hope you'll like it, I had fun writing it :)
> 
> Thanks to SerenaLunera for the beta, you best bud ever <3

He fell to the floor in a heap of robes, the cloak barely managing to soften the blow and the portal closing behind him as soon as it had opened. The common room fell silent. Eyes widened, hands twitched and just as everyone was getting up in a flurry of limbs, Tony beat them to it. He didn't think he had run and yet he couldn't remember covering the distance between the barstool he'd been sitting on in the kitchen and where he was now crouching by Stephen's barely conscious form.

The others gave him the space he needed, Bucky and Steve standing side by side, ready to be of help but it wasn't needed. The shock Tony couldn't seem to shake faded away as the cloak poked him into action.

"J, can you scan him?" Tony said and even he didn't fully recognize his voice, cold, far away. It took but a few seconds for the AI to process the order but Tony's knee was jerking under him the whole time, his hand yearning to go and brush the man's hair, his face, anything for him to open his eyes, to look back at him with his snarky comebacks well in place and no desire to be scrutinized further.

"Mr. Strange's left knee and ankle appear to be sprained, various bruises are spreading across his body but no internal damage, sir, he's mostly suffering from extreme fatigue."

Tony nodded repeatedly and at no one other than the back of Stephen's head. He couldn't even find it in himself to sigh in relief, not just yet. He took a deep breath and got back up. The cloak sprang to action immediately, lifting Stephen's body in a swish of electricity that raised the hair at the base of Tony's neck, already covered in cold sweat. "Alright, my floor." He glanced at the others, whispering to each other, the expressions on their faces that of abatement. He nodded at Steve and walked to the elevator.

Reaching Tony's bedroom only took a few more minutes, just enough for him to gather himself as best he could. The cloak deposited Stephen at the center of the bed and the movement, jostling him a bit, woke the man up in a startle, "What--What--"

"Don't talk," Tony shushed, sitting a mere few inches from Stephen on the side of the bed, "Don't know what happened to you but you're going to let me patch you up," Tony raised an eyebrow the second Stephen opened his mouth to protest and continued, voice stone-cold, "You are going to let me do it."

Stephen's eyes narrowed at him but in the end he didn't try to stop Tony. They stared into each other's eyes for a while, blue and brown, a battle of wills that ended with Stephen shuddering a little too violently for him to even pretend it didn't happen.

"You cold or is it the pain?" Tony asked, getting up to put the back of his hand on Stephen's forehead, gentle, assessing. Stephen shook his head - whether it was to deny or dislodge Tony's hand Tony didn't know and didn't care. "I'm starting a bath, you're shivering,"

"Tony that--that is entirely unnecessary," Stephen croaked at his back.

"Oh yeah? Try telling me that again when you sound a bit more like yourself, will you?" Tony stepped in his ensuite and started the bath right away. He searched his cabinets for the essential oils Pepper and Wong both agreed did wonders for _"Fools with no self-preservation instincts"_ and poured a generous dose of the vanilla one in the running bath. A grunt had his head whipping around, "You, idiot,"

Stephen was sitting in the spot Tony had left a minute before, his legs hanging on the side of the bed, his face scrunched up in pain. "I--"

"You shouldn't have done that, that's--" Tony cut himself, took another deep breath to settle his nerves, just the sight of Stephen's trembling hands holding on tight above his left knee was jarring, and the hand thing was the only one that was normal here. "You--Dammit," Tony frowned under Stephen's curious look observing him, "C'mon, bath is ready," he said finally and the cloak flew forward before Stephen could once again try to move and hurt himself further.

The robes were easy enough to shed once Tony got a hang of how to detangle the various folds of fabric. It wasn't like he had a lot of practice in the matter - holding the man and drunkenly making out with him hadn't led them anywhere near that just yet. This wasn't exactly how he'd imagined it would go either - with Stephen flinching in pain and protesting the whole time - but then he wasn't exactly surprised, this line of work easily threw you off your feet.

At Stephen's under-robe Tony halted. The man was holding on to the edge of the sink, standing on one foot, his face oscillating between annoyance and discomfort as he stared at his reflection in the mirror with intent.

"Do you want to keep that?" Tony's knuckles scraped ever so gently along the bumps and hollows of Stephen's curved spine beneath the thin fabric, watching as the other man's fragile balance wavered for a second and the faintest blush spread across his cheeks.

Finally, he shook his head, a jerky motion of the chin to the side, "It's--It's not very comfortable," he whispered meeting Tony's eyes in the mirror. And how could it be, drenched in feverish sweat and clinging to the man's arms and torso, outlining his quivering muscles in a way that would have been distracting in any other circumstances. For now, Tony just nodded his understanding and moved to remove the garment as efficiently and painlessly as he could.

"Ok, let's get you in there," Tony turned around a second to dip a finger in the water and check the temperature. Satisfied, he turned back on his heels and found Stephen was now facing him, his bare body making Tony's stomach clench. He kept his gaze on the other man's as he took the few steps that separated them, and extended his arms for Stephen to grab.

It was hard to tell who was more out of breath by the time Stephen was sitting in the tub and looking up at Tony. His voice had never sounded so small, so unsure than in that moment, "You aren't coming?" and his eyes were fleeting and Tony knew he was well and truly fucked, head-over-heels into whatever it was they had together.

"I--I am, hold on,"

Stephen was graceful enough not to look as Tony took off his clothes with shaky hands. He'd never been shy but this felt different somehow. It felt Pepper-different and it was a whole new level of feelings he wasn't ready to deal with. Stephen had already seen the reactor, either the glow of it as it passed through his night clothes or first hand the rare times Tony had been shirtless around him. Still, he didn't draw this part out.

"Scoot forward a little?"

Stephen nodded even as he moved with difficulty, still not looking up at Tony.

The water sloshed around them when Tony sat down and extended his legs on either side of Stephen's own legs. It was awkward at first trying to get comfortable in the tub, stark naked for the first time but Tony let go eventually. The wheezing breaths that Stephen let out in his pain reminding the both of them of the original purpose of the bath and helping them get rid of the inhibitions keeping Tony from helping as he'd intended.

“C'mon, lay back and try to spread your legs, there's room,” Tony encouraged.

Stephen chuckled low in his throat and it was a pretty sound even as the weakness of it was still worrying Tony. Up until the point he realized what he’d just said. He looked for something to say, his cheeks burning behind Stephen, thank God he couldn't see. His mouth opened for words and closed when he didn't find them good enough and then he simply stopped trying because Stephen _was_ leaning back. His legs unfolded and his back pressed to Tony's chest, not quite all the way but enough so that his head found rest in the crook of Tony's neck, forehead wedged under Tony's jaw, breath tickling his Adam's apple.

Stephen’s body buzzed with exhausted energy, the surface of the water rippling where it reached the man’s pectorals and Tony's hands yearned to touch him, so he did.

Tony caressed up and down the other man's arms, his insecurities leveling down when each pass of his fingers over biceps and forearms and wrists had Stephen nuzzling further against his neck, breathing just a little deeper.

They kept going for a while, Stephen's eyes closed and his cheeks bearing the slightest blush, Tony's questing, soothing hands mapping the other man's shoulders in kneading circles, descending down his torso palm first, his mind paused, dazed by the avalanche of sensations and feelings.

Next Tony went for Stephen's hair, chilled sweat making it stick at odd angles in the sweetest of ways. It took some rearranging for Tony to be able to brush all ten fingers through the mess of salt and pepper strands, Stephen seemingly completely out of it, pliant in Tony's arms.

As hard as he tried not to be too affected by the weight of Stephen's body against his, by the way the man had quite remarkably stopped thinking altogether, Tony had to flex his stomach a little so his erection wouldn't poke too soundly against the other man's lower back. This wasn't about--

“I can feel you squirming, Stark,” Stephen's voice was clearer now, deeper, his amusement transpiring easily.

Tony didn't know if he should laugh or cry, mortified. In the end, Stephen took that decision away from him by moving, and subsequently letting out a gasp of pain.

He bent over so suddenly Tony's hands yanked off his shoulders sending splashes of water over the walls on either side of the corner tub and thick rivulets gliding down the man's back.

“Cramping?” Tony asked.

Recognizing the signs was fairly easy but Stephen’s rapid nod was enough to help Tony get to the next step, “Alright, don't move.”

Tony rose just enough that he could reach the cabinet on the right of the tub, rummaging in its contents.

Stephen jumped when Tony's fingers set back on his shoulders, slippery and oddly warm, “What--”

“Warming gel, helps with the bruising,”

Stephen turned, facing Tony as best as he could with the man still hanging on to his arms, “That's not necessary,” his voice was colder and definitely more familiar than the one he'd used earlier but Tony was determined now.

“It is, you're obviously going to be in a lot of pain if we don't--”

“ _We_? I think I can take care of myself, I'm the Sor--”

“Stop talking,” Tony interrupted, aware that he was crossing some implicit boundaries but ready to see if Stephen would let him now, “Hands in the water, all you are right now is the Jackass Supreme you hear me?” Tony stared back at Stephen’s glare before huffing, “What even happened to you?”

Stephen looked shocked beyond answering, his mouth hanging open and eyebrows raised up in something akin to his usual nonplussed look. It all crumbled in a rather amusing reversal when Tony pushed on, “So?”

“I was exploring,” Stephen whispered.

“Oh, oh, you were _exploring_ , as in you flew off the ground and out of your mind in an entirely uncalled for draining experiment until _you passed out_?” Tony couldn't decide if he was more pissed or amused by the downright offense that rushed through Stephen's features.

They stared at each other again, Stephen's body still twisted in what couldn't be a comfortable position but Tony's mind cleared right there, right then. The look in his eyes must have let it show because Stephen tilted his head to the side in a silent question, all idea of arguing forgotten.

“I--Can I kiss you?”

Stephen didn't answer, just leaned forward with a tentative hand brushing back the hair that had fallen across Tony's forehead, lips parted just slightly. He looked from Tony's eyes to his mouth and their lips met the next second, gentle, unsure. Tony sucked in a breath when their chaste kiss ended. He knew his eyes had to be glazed over, Stephen always had that immediate effect on him. His stomach was filled to the brim with something he'd refuse to call butterflies but felt dangerously close to it. He felt as though he was on the verge of fainting, his eyesight narrowed down to Stephen's eyes, Stephen's face, Stephen's lips, anything else in the room was a blur, unimportant, anecdotic, "I asked if _I_ could kiss you," Tony murmured and smiled at the playful glint that lit the other man's blue gaze.

And then he did, taking matters into his own hands, cupping Stephen's jaw with both hands, leaning forward so the man didn't have to stay twisted as he was and setting his lips against Stephen's. They felt chapped and as tired as their bearer and Tony's hold on Stephen's jaw tightened briefly at the thought that the fool couldn't take care of himself to save his life. Their lips moved in tandem, sliding together softly, their noses brushing as they moved, their eyes closed and barely conscious of their air supplies running low. Tony only drew back to kiss down the length of Stephen's throat, leaving behind him a trail of heat percolating from each kiss and nip to the tender skin he found there. One of his hands made its way into Stephen's hair and held on as he sucked gently on the man's collarbone, pulling the blood to blush the thin surface. "Tony," Stephen's voice was but a hoarse sigh and Tony looked up from where he was lavishing the man's right shoulder, right above one of the darkest bruises that were blooming in various places of Stephen's body.

"Yeah?" Tony's hand tightened in Stephen's hair when he noticed the black pools that Stephen's pupils had become. Stephen moaned in a whisper, "Kiss me,"

And God if that didn't sound like the prettiest invitation Tony'd ever craved to receive. "Yeah," he said before licking across Stephen's lower lip, "Yeah."

After that, they were lost to the world. Tongues met in the most languid battle for dominance, both Tony's hands tangled in Stephen's hair still while Stephen's own hands were seemingly unable to settle over any part of Tony before they kept their slow exploration, caressing any and every limb, muscle, plane of flesh they could encounter, squeezing, tickling, flicking.

Tony nipped at Stephen's bottom lip, relishing in the reddened look of it before diving in again, his tongue running in every corner of the other man's mouth, licking behind Stephen's teeth and knotting with his tongue in a way that made them both gasp on their groans.

It's only when Stephen tried to move and sit on Tony's lap that reality came crashing back on the both of them, his weakened knee faltering under him and sending him to topple over Tony, his chest plastered against the other man's face. Tony's arms jumped to secure him, holding Stephen up in a strong grip as he got up, "Hold on, I got you,"

Stephen's face fell in a mask of hardened bitterness, he was out of breath and feeling utterly dejected, his erection already waning in his frustration and Tony just couldn't let it happen, "Can you hold onto the glass for a second?"

He nodded and Tony made quick work of laying a thick bath-mat and drying himself rudimentarily before he turned back towards Stephen. He smiled at the man the second he was able to catch his gaze and winked. He approached his partner with feline, jumpy steps, "Hold on to my neck?"

Stephen complied before his mind could catch up with the request and he struggled a little, but it was too late. Tony bent down, passed an arm behind Stephen's back, the other behind his knees and breathed through lifting him up.

"What--Tony put me down, right now!"

"Nope," Tony winked again.

His grasp on Stephen's skin was slippery from the water and the heat and he wasn't about to lose time and risk letting the man fall by listening to his feeble protests. Carefully, he walked back into the bedroom, the cloak flying up where it was resting on a chair as soon as they came into view but staying put. Tony winked at it, too. It seemed to nod back and that put a grin back on Tony's lips. He placed Stephen right on the edge of the bed, sitting in more or less the same spot he'd found him almost an hour ago, if the clock on his nightstand gave the right time.

"You really didn't have to do that," Stephen sighed, "I--"

"You'll stop right now if you're thinking of going towards self-deprecation territory because I kind of liked what we were doing back there and I was thinking we could, maybe, continue," Tony said at the same time as he pushed Stephen further up the bed and kept pushing until the man was lying on his back, his legs still hanging on the side and Tony kissing the last of the words over his lips, "What do you think, Stephen, think we can keep going?" Tony sucked a bruise, one more, just below Stephen's ear and was rewarded by a sharp inhale and a hazy nod.

Stephen's hand went back to their exploration of Tony. Travelling down the length of his back and stopping just shy of his backside before Tony nipped at his jaw and Stephen arched off the bed, his hands slipping further down with the movement. Tony moaned down his ear when Stephen started stroking the round of his ass. Their kisses were drawing messier and messier, tongues flew out searching for more, always more.

"Touch me," and it was taking a chance guessing who'd said the words for they both complied. Tony's hands reached down to take hold of Stephen's length, stroking hard and slow as the man sobbed his arousal against his lips. Stephen's fingers slipped between Tony's cheeks, pointer fingers grazing his rim almost accidentally even as his thumbs pressed against the round of his ass. Tony's moan came from so deep in his throat he stopped breathing for a second or two. This was everything he'd expected and so much more and so not what he'd pictured.

"You scared the shit out of me, stupid magician,"

"Oh yeah?" Stephen breathed, one of his hands coming to toy with Tony's goatee and hair before he presented two fingers to Tony's lips, expectant and focused gaze only perturbed by Tony's hand still squeezing and pumping his cock in earnest.

Tony's eyes were round as he parted his lips and Stephen's fingers plunged in, almost making him gag on the spot and he moaned through it, sucking and licking the fingers like he would Stephen's cock, all the while looking deep into the other man's eyes. They were pools of obsidian lust, the blue a slim ring on the outer circle. Stephen's cock twitched in Tony's fist, clearly liking the sensation, or the sight, or both. Tony winked.

His mind felt fuzzy, the only catching thoughts that of fogged up elation, awe-filled reflections of the passion he could see in the other man's eyes on him, never distracted in their focus. Stephen's fingers left Tony's mouth in a wet squelch and quickly made their way back to Tony's ass, to his hole, clenching on itself in anticipation. His hands were uncharacteristically steady as one parted Tony's cheeks and the other proceeded to relax his rim, Tony biting both his lips in his pleasure.

"Don't, let me--let me hear you," Stephen sounded even more out of breath than before and Tony's hand squeezed harder on the next stroke. His arm was shaking under him, the task of holding himself over Stephen without crushing the man taxing but worth it, so worth it. Tony's eyes were pleading as he let out the moan he'd been holding back.

"Gorgeous," Stephen exhaled, "So gorgeous," he pushed against Tony's rim, a knuckle worming its way past the tight ring of muscles and forcing another loud cry from Tony's throat. He all but collapsed on Stephen as his hips, reflexively, went to grind against Stephen's stomach. His otherwise neglected cock almost bursting right there at the sudden friction. Stephen threw his head back and Tony latched onto his neck, biting more frankly than before, adding his own explorative marks onto the man's body with exulted commitment. He grunted with Stephen's finger poking and grazing and diving past the resistance of Tony's flesh, their cocks twitching and leaking steadily against one another.

"Talk to me," Tony rasped before he sucked in Stephen's earlobe, lapping at the skin, nipping on the shell of his ear, "Talk, to, me,"

"I--I love what you're doing," Stephen took a deep breath as he tried to thrust his cock against Tony's and further up the channel of the fist still tightly wrapped around it. "Take us both in your hand, Tony,"

Tony gasped as he did so, the added friction of his palm and Stephen's hot, hard flesh almost enough to send him over the edge.

"That's it, come apart on top of me, Tony," he jabbed his finger in Tony's hole again and again as he kept undulating his hips, kissing Tony's forehead briefly, "You like that, huh?" his middle finger was busy scratching on Tony's rim, the man's saliva long dried but Tony's ass didn't seem bothered by the idea at all, instead clenching harder and harder around the finger already inside of him, craving more, always more. "You take it so good, gorgeous," Tony bit his lips so hard he was sure he drew blood and got confirmation of it just as he parted from where he'd gone and sucked hard at the junction between Stephen's jaw and neck, now painted in smudges of blissful red.

"You're going to come for me, love?" And it should have been scary to Tony, it should have, no one had called him that in forever let alone this man, this perfect man he'd realized not so long ago he'd never be able to go without anymore but it wasn't. It was just the right push for Tony to groan one last time, pushing back against Stephen's prodding fingers and up forward into his own convulsing palm before he came, hard, his mind blank of any and all things not Stephen, he was all that existed to Tony now.

Stephen took his fingers away from Tony's hole to palm over the curve of his ass, pushing them impossibly closer together, his other hand briefly stroking Tony before he wound it in Tony's hair uncaring of the cum and sweat he smeared there as he brought Tony’s lips back to his own to kiss feverishly, frantically. He came just as hard, just as liberating, sticking them together in orgasm and holding Tony close to him after the fact. Both breathed hard, their lungs on fire and their hearts so tight as a climactic glow descended on their embrace.

"Love, huh?" Tony wasn't sure how he found the courage to bring it up, but he felt safe between Stephen's arms, his face plastered to his neck, eyes closed and peaceful.

"That surprise you?" Stephen simply said, and he winced doing it but he rolled them over, Tony ending up flat on his back as Stephen stayed on his side, watching his face with his ever intent gaze, examining him in a way that made Tony want to squirm - habits die hard. He stayed put though, lost in the man's study of him.

"It always does," Tony whispered, "But I was hoping." and again, he wouldn't have thought himself able to just say that but it seemed his mouth was running and he had no control, "I mean, to put up with you I had to be attached in some way, right?"

And Stephen laughed and it made his face light up in such a breathtaking way, his lips, red and plumped by their hundred kisses distended by it, his gaze fonder than Tony had ever seen it and he felt warm, assured enough to keep going, "You know, right? You know,"

Stephen nodded, "I do now," and he bent down and kissed Tony, square on the lips, searing promises that weren't the shallow ones Tony was used to, sealing visions of the future right there in the space between their mouths and their crazed hearts. He kept going, kissing Tony's nose, and cheeks and brows. Tony's hands got lost in the man's hair once again, never quite pulling but unable to be soft in their never-ending quest for grounding.

They kissed for endless minutes, finding themselves the right way around on the bed this time without ever making any conscious move. Stephen was on top of Tony, his injured leg hanging behind him carefully, or Tony was on top of Stephen brushing his lips over every accessible corner of him and then no one knew who was where anymore. Caramel brown swirled in grey blue waves and it wasn't quite euphoria, more like the deeply comforting warmth of the shore for two men who'd drifted alone for so long. More like the tranquil breath of ecstasy. More like falling asleep in arms that were strength and grip and feathers all at the same time - which they did, fall asleep, together, uncaring of time and space or anyone else but the person they were tangled with.

The night went by without either man experiencing the nightmares they were both used to, a bit of the morning too. Tony woke up, bewilderedly gleeful. Even before he opened his eyes, the reassuring weight of Stephen's arms tightly encasing his chest proved him he hadn't made up the night before and he smiled. He blinked and he found sleep-laden eyes grinning at him in hello.

Tony disentangled one of his hands from the sheets and brought it to Stephen's face, tracing the faint bruise that had formed down his jaw during the night before stroking the man's cheek with the utmost precaution.

Next he rose just the necessary distance for him to kiss the thin lips of his partner, his mouth carrying the same gentleness. "Good morning, sweet eyes,"

Stephen rose an eyebrow as he chuckled against Tony's lips, drawing back a fraction to ask, "Sweet eyes?"

"No? Lover boy? Prince Sexy? Or maybe, Sugar lips, with all the dirty stuff that came out of those, that could be a good shot-- oh, Hot Shot?"

Stephen laughed and laughed, long and heartfelt and Tony felt full of something he couldn't describe very well, something he wasn't so familiar with anymore.

"Sweet eyes will do," Stephen managed to say between two fits of entirely not-Strangesque giggles, gathering Tony between his arms again, close, so close they shared breath and Tony thought that maybe, that taste at the back of his throat was actually the flavor of happiness.

The cloak nodded its assent.

**Author's Note:**

> I shall write more, soon soon. See you!
> 
> Also find me on [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/hogwartstoalexandria)


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